Feeding Question

[martin82531]

Hello,

Below is a picture of my ball eating the last of the small frozen mouse I had in stock. Based on his size should I continue to with small mice, or could I go with a small rat?

[Mike41793]

He looks skinny to me, i say go for the rat!

[Daybreaker]

That mouse looks a tad small for him, but going from a small mouse to a small rat is a big jump (my "large" mice from Rodent Pro are roughly ~20 grams, the small rats are 60-80 grams).

How much does he weigh in grams? I feed 10-15% of my snakes body weight, ie feed a feeder who is 10-15% of your snake's weight.

If you don't know his weight I'd pick up a digital scale but just eye balling it it looks like he can be on at least extra large/jumbo mice/rat pups/fuzzies.

[martin82531]

I don't have a digital scale but I will pick one up soon.

I have only had this ball for about a month (first time snake owner) and he/she eats really good but seems to be growing really fast, should I maybe switch to live prey? All the food I have bought has been from PetsMart, I have read that large prey can be dangerous for the snake (e.g. snake getting bit). The snake has done something out of the norm on the last two feedings. Usually he would just open his/her mouth and eat, these last two he/she has constricted the already dead prey for a coupe minutes before actually eating.

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Also does anyone have a recommendation on a digital scale, maybe one I can pick up from Amazon? I was looking at this one http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh...2315484&sr=1-5

[Daybreaker]

I don't have a digital scale but I will pick one up soon.

I have only had this ball for about a month (first time snake owner) and he/she eats really good but seems to be growing really fast, should I maybe switch to live prey? All the food I have bought has been from PetsMart, I have read that large prey can be dangerous for the snake (e.g. snake getting bit). The snake has done something out of the norm on the last two feedings. Usually he would just open his/her mouth and eat, these last two he/she has constricted the already dead prey for a coupe minutes before actually eating.

If he's a consistent F/T eater I'd keep with that personally. That's what I feed out of convenience - I like being able to buy in bulk for everyone instead of traveling to get live feeders every week or raising my own which I don't really want to do. Some snakes have their eating habits: some will only strike and constrict, some will just eat off the tub/tank floor when the feeder is left overnight, some need a really quiet room to eat, etc so as long as he's eating I'd be happy!

I use this scale from Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Bigges...acity/11090896

[RetiredJedi]

Small rats are quite a bit bigger than small mice so I would go to weaned rats maybe even rat pups depending on the size of the pup and of course the snake...10-15% body weight of snake.